Seventy people have been charged with fraud and money laundering in Iceland, the District Prosecutor (Héraðssaksóknari) announced. The indictments will be presented to the Reykjavík District Court on Monday, according to Vísir, which first reported the story.
The charges are linked to what Icelandic media has called the ‘Landsbank’ case. Some people exploited a system error at Reiknistofa bankanna during a software update last autumn that allowed them to fraudulently obtain funds from Landsbankinn. Reports say the sums involved in the indicted frauds total several hundred million krónur.
Vísir reports that the current indictment covers only part of the total frauds now under investigation. Journalists have reported that many people were recruited to receive transfers onto their accounts as part of the scheme.
Background
Landsbankinn is an Icelandic bank headquartered in Reykjavík. It was established in 2008 by the Icelandic government out of the domestic operations of Landsbanki. Landsbankinn is the largest bank in Iceland, and in 2022 the Icelandic State Treasury owned 98.2% of its shares.
Sources
- Vísir (first reported) in Icelandic
- DV in Icelandic
- RÚV in Icelandic
- Mannlíf in Icelandic
- Fréttatíminn in Icelandic
- mbl.is in Icelandic
Image: Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · licence, original (resized) Illustrative image.
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